The Oakland A’s suffered a blow to their starting pitching, this season and potentially in the future as well, when news came down that Daulton Jefferies would be undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.
What the Daulton Jefferies surgery news means for the Oakland A’s
According to a tweet from Matt Kawahara, the Oakland A’s beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, Jefferies will have surgery on Monday after receiving a second opinion on what should be done to battle his thoracic outlet syndrome diagnosis.
The 26-year-old right-hander was moved to the 60-day disabled list on May 29, putting the rest of his 2022 season in doubt. However, with the news of the surgery, the A’s now have to see exactly when Jefferies will be available to them again.
Jefferies last pitched on May 18, going four innings against the Minnesota Twins in his eighth start of the season. The next day, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with what was termed as right arm nerve irritation. The prognosis, however, downgraded from there.
A first-round draft pick of the Oakland A’s in the 2016 MLB draft (37th overall), Jefferies made his MLB debut on September 12, 2020, throwing just two innings in an abbreviated start where he was tagged for five runs on five hits and gave up a pair of home runs. He came back from that to pitch in five games last season (making one start) and posting a 3.60 ERA/3.97 FIP/1.000 WHIP in 15.0 innings.
This season, Jefferies was unable to limit the number of hits he gave up, with 46 in 39.1 innings as part of a 1.373 WHIP. However, despite the high number of hits allowed, he started the season strong, limiting opposing teams two earned runs in his first 15.1 innings of the campaign.
May, however, proved tougher with his ERA climbing to 8.10 in four starts, all of which ending up being losses for him.
While there is no current timeline for his return, the A’s are expected to share more information about the future for Jefferies after the surgery is complete. However, don’t expect the team to rush him back into action in a campaign that is very much a “bridge” for the A’s between past success and a future the team hopes it much brighter with young talent acquired through trades.